so flori as rorschach test, best new thing today. and rachel maddow staffers, you are grounded. no xbox for two weeks. campaign gaffe, republican candidate mitt romney does damage control after making a controversial comment about the poor. the far side, a nasa orbiter beams back the first video of the part of moon we never get to see. and high school hail mary. an alabama basketball team scores not one but two buzzer beaters in the same game. good morning, everyone, i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead, this is "first look" on msnbc.

we begin this morning with next stop, nevada. gop presidential hopefuls have taken their campaigns out west where caucuses will be held in nevada on saturday and in minnesota and colorado next tuesday. meanwhile, it wasn't all smooth sailing for front-runner mitt romney who instead of basking in his florida victory spent the day defending a comment he made about the poor. brian mooar joins us from washington. good morning. >> reporter: from the candidate who made a $10,000 bet and said he likes to fire people, another potentially costly error. >> the success of some does not make the rest of us poorer. >> reporter: beginning today, gop presidential candidate mitt romney has the official protection of the u.s. secret service. but not before he got glitter bombed by a gay rights activist and he hurt himself. while talking to cnn about protecting the middle class. >> im50 not concerned about the

very poor. we have a safety net there. if it's broke, i'll fix it. >> reporter: instead of savoring his florida primary win, romney was playing defense. >> no, no, no. >> what did you mean. >> reporter: romney was taking fire from both sides 'wasn't spared on the campaign trail. >> the founding fathers met the very poor who they called americans. >> reporter: today newt gingrich is reportedly picking up the endorsement of donald trump. rick santorum says if trump cares about jobs he's endorsing the wrong guy. >> he should be endorsing me, not newt gingrich. >> reporter: the gop candidates, a war of wores and a misfire from the front-runner. >> donald trump's endorsement may or may not sway votes. at least it will make headlines and has us talking about it. lynn? >> that's for sure. thank you. the buffett bill was introduced in the u.s. senate

wednesday. proposed after warren buffett complained his secretary pays a higher tax rate than he does, the bill would make anyone earning more than $1 million a year pay at least 30% to the irs. last night on "the ed show" senator bernie sanders, an independent from vermont, talked to ed schultz about poverty, fairness and the buffett bill. >> the reality is that poverty today is at an all-time high. we did a hearing on this in my subcommittee. if you are in the lowest 20% of the american people, you will die 6 1/2 years younger than if you're in the top 20%. so poverty in many ways is a death sentence. romney and his friends want to cut medicaid, throw children off of health insurance. they want to cut medicare, cut social security and they are going to war against the poorest

people in this country. i think that is a moral -- just an immoral position to take. i would not want to be a republican defending a position that says not only do we think that the wealthy should not be asked to pay more, we believe the wealthy should be able to pay less. >> yes. >> while we cut programs that the mid class desperately needs. how would you like to campaign on that position. >> lean forward request "the ed show," 8:00 eastern, right here on msnbc, the place for politics. the u.s. combat role in afghanistan will end next year, defense secretary leon panetta says american and other international forces in afghanistan expect to end their combat role in 2013. but continue training and advising afghan forces. on his way to a nato defense minister's meeting in europe, he said the goal is to have the afghans take the lead role in fighting the taliban. panetta says the reduced role

will be followed by withdrawal of american troops through 2014. at least 74 people died last night in egypt in bloody politically motivated soccer violence. soccer fans rushed the field after an upset victory by the home team over egypt's top club from cairo. fans of the losing team allegedly began taunting the home crowd, accusing them of not supporting last year's populous revolution. the two sides threw sticks, rocks and other weapons. players from the visiting team were swarmed and attacked but none of them were killed. government riot police stood in lines doing seemingly nothing as the fans ran wild. hundreds were injured. there is your "first look" at some of the other news going on around america today. a meteor streaked across the skies of central texas last night. the government confirmed it was for real. you can see the dot flying across the horizon as it was

captured by a police car's on board video camera. sightings were reported in kansas and oklahoma. so far, there's nothing to indicate it hit the earth. oakland police have released surveillance video of occupy demonstrators breaking into city hall during last saturday's protest. the video shows a large american flag being stolen. officials say the same flag later burned by activists on the city hall steps. investigators are hoping to identify those seen on the video. 400 people were arrested during the chaos. ten people were injured after an amtrak train derailed just south of lancing, michigan. it happened when the train hit a semitruck that got stuck on the tracks. 74 people were on the train, heading from pontiac to chicago. none of the injuries are considered life-threatening though. incredible shooting by a high school basketball team. one player gets nothing but net

from 90 feet away. later, a teammate scored the halftime buzzer from midcourt. still pretty good. it was a good show but not enough. as the other team came back to win. no free cars, either. you would think you get a free car when you make a shot like that. now we go to nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> i'm having trouble hyping groundhog day. >> it falls flat when it's 60 degrees. >> will winter end soon? >> we need mystical music in the background. >> punxsutawney phil will be out later this morning and he probably will not see his shadow. cloudy in areas of pennsylvania. that will mean spring four weeks away, more or less continue how it's been, i guess. temperatures yesterday, another absolutely incredibly warm midwinter day. 72 degrees in washington, d.c. it was 67 in atlanta. i mean, we were warm all the way through dallas to kansas city.

minneapolis northward was a little bit, quote, unquote, chilly. as we go throughout the day today, as i mentioned, we have general lee in the south, not just punxsutawney phil. many local groundhogs will be making their forecast. we have a potent storm kicking out of colorado into the siene tall plains. that will be one of the first significant winter weather events we've seen in months in this region of the country. from colorado to nebraska. it looks like areas of iowa may get nailed. not much on the radar, just some snow beginning to show up in the mountains of colorado. we have a blizzard watch in effect for the north platte area. central nebraska, a full-out big old winter storm for you. even the denver area will see significant snow. we're talking the possibility of school cancellations and blizzard conditions, especially areas of eastern colorado. how much snow? the 6 to 12 is in the pink.

large area from cheyenne, wyoming to pueblo, kansas and central nebraska. somewhere in the middle we could be dealing with more. finally, a little bit of rain, heading out along the east coast. that ill with be sweeping out to sea as we go throughout the day. lynn, overall, the forecast still mild. we're getting ready to set the stage for that big snowstorm in the central plains. >> bill, thanks so much. coming up, data looks strong. car sales roar. and a boss in australia, we all wish would move to the states. your "first look" at this morning's business headlines is straight ahead. push comes to shove between the pacers and t'wolves, the magic get back on track and lebron scores 40, but was it enough? you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ female announcer ] the best things in life are the real things.

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welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. here are some of the top stories making news this morning. more than 100 people are still missing after a ferry boat sank

off the east coast of papua new guinea. indiana is now the 23rd right to work state in the u.s. and the first state to change its law in over a decade. the state legislature passed and the governor signed the controversial bill saying that workers do not have to pay union fees. the senate in washington state passed a bill last night to legalize same-sex marriage. the statehouse is expected to pass it and the governor will sign it. that would make washington the seventh state in the nation to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. in france, a presidential candidate was showered with flour wednesday. he was shocked but did resume his speech, still covered in flour. a nasa mapping spacecraft beamed home its first video of the far side of the moon, a view we never see because the move is

tidally locked with the earth. the moon cam video shot last month, shows a moonscape of the moon covered in craters. the dow gained 83 yesterday. the s&p was up 11 points, the nasdaq jumped 34. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei added 67 points. in hong kong, the hang seng surged 406. facebook took its first step toward becoming a publicly traded company yesterday. on track to becoming largest ipo ever. facebook said it was seeking to raise $5 billion. the word on the street is the company is aiming toward a possible valuation of near $100 billion. no word yet on which exchange will carry the new fb ticker symbol. elsewhere, investors welcome news that u.s. manufacturing picked up speed last month.

more upbeat data showed construction spending hit an 18-month high in december. bank of america and citigroup both got a boost from news that greece could be one formal step away from avoiding default. automakers reported january sales not seen since 2009 cash for clunkers incentive. chrysler, for example, saw an 81% increase in sales. elsewhere, one civic hybrid owner is celebrating a big small claims victory against honda. an l.a. court awoarded here nearly $10,000 for her suit claiming the car didn't live up to its advertised mileage. pension plans and retiree health benefits are also on the chopping block as well as 13,000 jobs. whirlpool surged on its optimistic 2012 outlook.

and some workers at one australian company said they have the most generous boss. some decades-long employees took more than 100,000 big ones. the 76ers pull off a big upset. plus, kevin durant shows dallas why oklahoma city are called the thunder. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery? ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for excellent fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion, also refreshing plus tea. could've had a v8.

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welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. in sports, last night's latest installment of the nba's battle of the great plains went all oklahoma city's way. here's nbc's mario solis. good morning. the last time we saw the oklahoma city thunder they were on the wrong end of a blake griffin highlight reel. last night they took out their frustration by dunking the maverick. the thunder hold dirk nowitzki to 8 points. durant and westbrook scored 56 between them. westbrook with the easy dunk. rolls over to rick carlyle and he boots it into the crowd. a frustrating night for the champs. thunder win. lebron james did his part, scoring 40 against the bucks. unfortunately he didn't have much help. brandon jennings simply went off

in the fourth hitting a trio of three-pointers down the stretch. bucks beat the heat for the second time this season, 104-97. spurs dance over the rockets in san antonio. tim duncan finished with 25. the rocket ices it in the final minutes. matt bonner from downtown, spurs own texas bragging rights, 99-91. the sixers have been the surprise team of the season doing everything right against the bulls. philly is for real. they knock off the best team in the east, 98-82. the pacers are another team on the rise. danny granger scored 29 of his 36 in the second half. even gets into it with kevin love, a little pushing and shoving but nothing more than that. indy wins their third straight, 109-99. on the other end of the spectrum, you have the magic, playing some of the worst basketball of the season. there's one sure shot way to fix that, play the lowly wizards, ryan anderson and dwight howard had 23 points.

orlando end the misery of a four-game losing streak with a win. that's your "first look" at sports. i'm mario solis. here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. he has the weather channel forecast. good morning to you, bill. >> we said groundhog will not see his shadow, four weeks until spring. >> way to reveal the secret. aren't we waiting until 7:30. >> if he seeses had shadow and it's cloudy, i completely lose all faith. d.c. through maryland, off the virginia coastline, dry everywhere up in new england. temperatures have dropped off a little bit. we're going back to warm winter weather instead of warm spring weather out there. the green on the map is the rain through the outer banks, up through the delmarva peninsula. back here through west virginia, light rain, too, in the higher elevations. this will be out of here as we go through the morning commute and the rest of the day will be dry. morning showers in d.c. and we

should get sunshine later. we're saying 61 for you. definitely cooler from philly to new york. still well above average for this time of year. a lot of that snow pack in central new england, now it's gone. northern new england really still has snow on the ground. as far as the rest of groundhog day goes, that snowstorm developing in colorado, lynn. we'll have good pictures come tomorrow morning. there will be a lot of kids without school probably tomorrow in colorado. there may be a redo on the investigation into amy winehouse's death. plus, say it ain't so. reese witherspoon takes a shot iebs. justin bieber that is. >> it's too easy. >> it is too easy. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. ou are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you,

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welcome back to "first look." it is groundhog's day. tradition says if the groundhog named punxsutawney phil sees his shadow this morning, there will be six more weeks of winter. if he does not, there will be an early spring. despite what bill says, we don't know what's going to happen. we are live in gobbler's knob in punxsutawney for us. it looks like the festivities are well under way. lucky for you. >> yes, lynn, you can hear the music how loud it is. the festivities have been going on for a couple hours already. you can see where all these people are -- were dancing just a couple minutes ago. this knob right here is where phil the groundhog is as we speak. feel the tension. he's actually sitting on a heated pad to keep him comfortable until he's taken out of the knob. and that is when his keepers

will determine if he sees his shadow. as you said, if he sees his shadow, that means six more weeks of winter. if he does not, then we have an early spring. take a look here at the crowd. you can see there are several thousand people gathered here. they can seat crowds up to 30,000 people. it is pretty mild out here today. a lot of people would say we really haven't had much of a winter at all. i wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't see his shadow here today. lynn? >> all right, wendy, thanks so much. it is time for your "first look" at entertainment news. there may be another amy winehouse death investigation after the coroner who help the first suddenly resign. because the veteran australian lawyer hadn't been registered in england for five years as the rules required, her inquest which concluded winehouse died from accidental alcohol poisoning could be held if any of winehouse's family members request it. elsewhere, a source tells "us" magazine on the night demi moore was rushed to the

hospital, everyone thought they was going to die when she went into convulsions after smoking an unknown substance. sources say moore was mixing pills and red bulls and had been hitting on 24-year-old actor zac efron. finally, reese weatherspoon took a tiny shot at justin bieber. >> tiny? are you picking on him? >> when asked what she thought about rumors he might remake the 1996 thriller "fear" which starred witherspoon and mark wahlberg. she answered, that would be cool, would he be playing me or mark wahlberg? why does everyone have to hate on the biebs? >> he's squeaky clean, he's nice. >> and millions of girls pawn all over him. >> they used to. >> it's getting old. this is "first look" with lynn berry. stay tuned.

"way too early" with willie geist starts right now. defense secretary leon panetta announcing to the surprise even of some in the obama administration that american combat forces will withdraw from afghanistan sometime next year. a full year ahead of the previous timetable. the question is, will the now 10 1/2 year war really end in 2013? we'll have a live right from jim miklaszewski at the pentagon. mitt romney is drawing heat from the left and right over a comment he made yesterday morning about taking care or not taking care of the country's very poor. the question is, with the unfeeling rich guy caricature of romney nearly fully painted by his opponents, does it matter that the line has been ripped from its context? and tim tebow pays a viti